Ending War from the Inside

David Zeiger’s 2005 documentary Sir! No Sir! chronicles a deeply misunderstood moment in American history: the movement to end the Vietnam War by the men charged with fighting it. The GI movement, as it came to be known, had a profound impact on the direction of the war and resulted in permanent shifts in US military policy.

In this conversation, Zeiger tells me about his own involvement in the GI movement; his time spent at a GI coffeehouse project in Killeen, Tex.; and how his radical politics continue to inform his work as a filmmaker.